More light and less glare - which is why one bright bulb makes it worse

What is senior lighting upgrades?

Senior lighting upgrades improve how a home is lit for eyes that need more light and tolerate glare less well. The changes that matter most are light aimed at surfaces rather than at people, even levels with no dark patches between rooms, task light where things are actually done, and a lit route to the bathroom at night. Most of it is inexpensive, and a good deal of it needs no electrician at all.

Signs you need senior lighting upgrades

• Reading, cooking or shaving has moved to wherever the light happens to be best
• Someone hesitates going from a bright room into a dim hallway, or the other way
• The route to the bathroom at night is unlit and switches are being hunted for
• A bright ceiling light has been fitted and the room is now uncomfortable rather than better
• Steps, thresholds or the edges of the stairs are hard to make out
• Bulbs are being changed by someone standing on a chair
• Glare off a glossy floor, a countertop or a window makes it hard to judge the space

Seeing something not on this list? Browse aging in place problems by symptom →

How senior lighting upgrades actually works

1. 1

   Deal with glare before adding brightness

   Glare is a bright source in the field of view - a bare bulb, an unshaded fitting, sun through a window, or a reflection off gloss. It reduces what someone can see rather than improving it. Shades, diffusers, uplighting off a ceiling and repositioning fittings all address it, and often the room is then usable without more light at all.

   Watch forBare high-output bulbs in open fittings and pendants at eye level. They read as an upgrade on the packaging and are worse to live under.

2. 2

   Even out the levels, room to room

   Eyes adapt slowly between different brightness levels, and the adaptation gets slower with age. A bright kitchen opening onto a dim hall creates a period of near blindness at exactly the moment somebody is walking through a doorway. Lighting the transitions matters more than lighting any single room brightly.

   Watch forA well-lit living room and an unlit hallway. It is the most common lighting layout in a house and one of the least helpful.

3. 3

   Put task light where the task is

   Under-cabinet light on a kitchen counter, a light directed at the reading chair, a light at the mirror rather than only above the bathroom door. Someone standing at a counter shades their own work from a ceiling light, so no amount of ceiling brightness solves it.

   Watch forTask lighting positioned so that the person's own head or hand blocks it. Sit or stand in the actual position and check the shadow falls where the work is not.

4. 4

   Light the night route continuously

   Bed to bathroom, at floor level, warm and dim, on motion so nothing has to be found or switched. Plug-in and battery fittings do this well, need no wiring and no landlord's permission, and can be in place the same day.

   Watch forA bright light on a motion sensor at night. Being dazzled makes the next few steps less safe and wakes people fully, and households disable these within a week.

5. 5

   Make the switches findable and usable

   Large rocker or paddle switches take a knuckle or a forearm rather than a fingertip. Illuminated switches can be found in the dark. Two-way switching at both ends of a hall or a staircase means nobody has to cross an unlit space to reach a switch - which is a common and avoidable arrangement.

   Watch forA staircase or a corridor switched at one end only. It is the arrangement most likely to send someone across a dark space, and adding the second switch is routine electrical work.

6. 6

   Light the outside approach and the steps

   The walk from the car, the steps, and the lock itself. Motion-triggered lighting along the path, plus something aimed at the lock, is the combination that works - and it also removes the need to leave lights burning.

   Watch forA single floodlight aimed outward from the door. It lights the yard, dazzles the person approaching, and leaves the steps in deeper shadow than before.

7. 7

   Choose fittings someone can maintain, or that need no maintenance

   Bulb changes that need a ladder are a hazard in themselves. Long-life integrated fittings, or lamps that can be reached from the floor, remove a recurring risk that nobody counts as a lighting problem until somebody falls off a chair.

   Watch forHigh recessed fittings specified for a stairwell or a double-height space. Consider how the bulb gets changed before it needs changing.

What does senior lighting upgrades cost?

Much of this costs very little - plug-in and battery night lighting, better shades, lamps in the right places. The larger items are added circuits, under-cabinet wiring and extra switch positions, all of which are ordinary licensed electrical work. See the Cost Guide.

See the full senior lighting upgrades cost guide - by material, size and region →

If the number is the problem, here are the ways people pay for it →